We’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest in System Center 2016 Operations Manager so I thought I’d take a minute and share a few resources that should help you get started on the right track. This isn’t a comprehensive list but they’re some of the resources that I’ve found most helpful. Whether you’re just starting to look at what OpsMgr 2016 has to offer or if you’re already rolled it out, this is a good starting point for questions you may have,
Getting Started
If you’re still in the investigative phase and looking to get more information on what Operations Manager 2016 has to offer, you can see what’s new and even download a free trial via the links below.
- What’s new in Operations Manager: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/system-center-docs/om/get-started/whats-new-in-operations-manager
- Download a free evaluation: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-technical-preview
Product Documentation
The core product documentation for Microsoft System Center 2016 Operations Manager can be found using the links below. Topics cover everything from planning your deployment to usage and troubleshooting.
- Getting Started with System Center 2016 Operations Manager: Written for customers who are either new to Operations Manager or are looking for “What’s New” information.
- Planning for System Center 2016 – Operations Manager: Review information to help you plan the deployment of Operations Manager into your organization.
- Deploying System Center 2016 – Operations Manager: Read these topics to learn how to deploy Operations Manager in your environment.
- Initial Monitoring After Operations Manager Is Installed: Read these topics to get started with monitoring your environment.
- System Center 2016 – Operations Manager Operations Guide: Read these topics once you have Operations Manager up and running and are looking for procedures for day to day operations.
- Management Pack Authoring Guide for Operations Manager: The Management Pack Authoring Guide for Operations Manager provides information on creating custom monitoring for your service or application.
Video Learning
If you were lucky enough to attend Microsoft Ignite back in September then you may have already seen our sessions on Operations Manager, but if not you can view them on-demand here:
- Monitor your changing datacenter using Microsoft System Center 2016 Operations Manager: https://myignite.microsoft.com/videos/3022
- Monitor and diagnose web apps & services with Application Insights & SCOM: https://myignite.microsoft.com/videos/2744
Staying Current
It’s important to stay up to date on what’s happening in Operations Manager and there are a few options available to do this. The best resource is our System Center Operations Manager Team Blog. Here you will find tips and tricks from our OpsMgr support engineers, announcements from the product team, information about the latest product updates and downloads, as well as notifications for every new piece of content/documentation we release.
If you subscribe to our blog via RSS (here), you will automatically be notified any time something new is posted. Personally, I use Outlook when subscribing to RSS feeds since I’m in there all day checking email already, so if you need a newsreader and already use Outlook then that might be a good solution for you. If social media is more your thing, we make the same announcements on Twitter and Facebook via the links below.
Getting Help
One of the best resources for finding answers is our Operations Manager support forum. There you will find a community of experts, MVPs, as well as members of the support team and the product group who collectively hold a wealth of information about to implement, use and troubleshoot OpsMgr in a virtually any kind of environment. If you need help with a problem or maybe just need some advice, the good folks there will get you pointed in the right direction. And of course, Microsoft product support is here 24/7 to help with any Operations Manager issue or question you may have. You can find more information on the support options available here.
J.C. Hornbeck, Solution Asset PM
Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Group